BERLIN: Daimler's China sales will be strong next year, the carmaker's China chief said on Thursday. He said he was confident that Mercedes-Benz will grow its share of the country's electric vehicle market, given little competition in the premium car segment.
Over the past year, China's car sales increased 12 per cent to a record 774,000 despite the pandemic, and over 8 per cent of growth has been registered this year, Hubertus Troska told reporters.
The fact that China will become a super market next year is a fact, according to Troska.
The market share of electric vehicle sales in China is still small, according to Troska, where it competes with several Chinese electric vehicle makers from Xpeng to Li Auto and Nio, as well as the U.S. EV giant Tesla.
Troska said that most Chinese companies sell in the price range of €35,000 US $39,270 or less, below Daimler's range.
With the number of Daimler EV models for sale in the country going to grow from one to five next year, Daimler will be able to better establish itself in the higher-priced premium car segment, he said.
Demand for fossil fuel burning cars is likely to last a long time in China, Troska said, pointing out the large swathes of the country outside urban centres where charging infrastructure could be harder to come by.
It's a huge country, so I think there will still be internal combustion engine cars in China for some time, according to Troska.
Daimler said all of the new vehicle platforms from 2025 will be electric, with the aim of producing all-electric only by 2030, where market conditions allow.
China, which is the world's largest car market and is responsible for a third of Daimler's revenues, has so far refrained from setting a ban on production of fossil fuel emitting cars in Europe.